NJ's Delaware Bay coast backs severe weather fund

Jan. 29, 2014

Written by

Associated Press

The damage Superstorm Sandy caused to Lin and Paul Waterman’s boat rental facility along the Delaware Bay was significant: The storm flooded their Downe Township store and home with 2 feet of water and scattered their boats.

But the damage, and that to other homes and businesses along New Jersey’s Delaware Bay coastline, has gotten less attention — and funding — than oceanfront towns that were devastated by the storm.

On Wednesday, a group of residents, merchants and elected officials from the region gathered to support a proposed permanent national fund to prevent and respond to severe weather emergencies.

The group US Strong is pushing for creation of such a fund. The group does not specify how it would be paid for but suggests a tax on carbon pollution emissions as one of many possible sources of money. That is likely to encounter stiff resistance in Congress, which took months to approve disaster aid for New Jersey and New York victims of the storm.

“We were so overshadowed by others’ devastation,” Lin Waterman said. “While we didn’t lose the huge amount that other areas lost, what we lost relative to our county population and income was devastating. It’s been a long, ugly road convincing people that Cumberland County needs help. We needed US Strong’s proposed federal extreme weather and protection fund yesterday.”

Jim and Shirley Fonash own the 90-year-old Charlesworth Restaurant, known for its panoramic views of the bay. They noticed that tides have been getting higher and higher over the last few years. When Sandy hit, they lost the bulkhead and the decking around their Downe Township property, and all the air conditioning, heat and other infrastructure they need to run a restaurant and hotel.

They fixed as much as they could afford on their own but didn’t qualify for a federal small business loan. They say a state grant would have required them to come up with an additional $100,000 to finish the repairs.

“Without some federal money to help put the business back in operation, it’s done,” Jim Fonash said. “It’s as if we were blacklisted. There’s no public lender that will consider lending us money.”

Mike Rothman is captain of the Bonanza II, a recreational charter fishing boat out of Fortescue. He also believes the region has been shortchanged in terms of aid because it didn’t have the iconic scenes of devastation that Seaside Heights and other oceanfront towns did.

“Everyone was looking at roller coasters, but we are part of the state of New Jersey,” he said. “The storm came straight into the bay.”

Frank Virgilio, president of the New Jersey Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, said the state is experiencing extreme weather more frequently.

“New Jersey and the nation can’t afford extreme weather without a dedicated federal fund,” he said. “The Cumberland County bay shore is a great example of a community that would benefit from such a fund.”